Thursday, February 21, 2008

I hope they grow. If they sprout into plants I'll move them into one of my pots and add them to the potted herb garden I'm growing. I got all inspired because I've been watching "Jamie at Home" on the Food Network. (Might be developing a man-crush on Jamie Oliver by the way.) So I've bought all kinds of plants to have fresh for cooking. I have some tomatoes, bell peppers and chili peppers and a variety of herbs. The seeds are basically salad greens and spinach. Keep your fingers crossed.

I'm not thrilled growing a garden in pots but I'm renting my place and I want to be able to move them around.

So did I get your hopes up with that headline? Thought it was going to be a much more exciting blog didn't you.

Actually this is more exciting :) I know English people are a bit fed up at the sight of Jamie Oliver but it was his enthusiasm as andreas says that got me into cooking :)

I do bake a lot of cakes, pastries and bread, but he really nudged me along to give proper cooking a try... and I havent looked back since... :)I did have a bit of an incident once, when I was making his delicious roasted chicken...I dont know if you have the recipe, but you mix lemon zest with garlic, butter, thyme, prosciutto and then you squeeze it under the chicken's skin (delicious trust me plus you dont have to turn it all the time :) but you also have to cut the lemon in half and stick it up the chicken's bottom :) Which was fine until the chicken was done and I had to cut it, because I forgot to take the lemon out... it shoot out of that bottom like a torpedo :)So dont forget the lemon :) Oh and yes do get basil, its great for anything from pizza, bread, soup, sauces...

ok wait. you live east side right? cause this is too weird. my homey chris is ALL ABOUT gardening now. all of a sudden. but he lives pupukea. a bit further away. i was about to suggest it was a pupukea thing.

I love herb gardens!! I use to have one in our backyard but where I live in Illinois the soil isnt that great and we have a covered well in our backyard so that didnt help either. I think growing them in pots is great though, you can have that wonderful smell in the house if you want.

I have never seen Jami Oliver I might have to check him out. I have a crush on the guy from Bizzare Foods on the Travel Channel. I love that man!

We have a bunch of deer in our backyard all the time so when I planted a garden, they kept eating everything. Last year I planted in pots and moved them around at night, which worked well, but this year I am going to try the square foot gardening method in a book written by Mel Bartholomew. There is even a section on how to do it where it is mobile, so you might want to check that out.

I swear I have no affiliation with anyone involved in the book, I just love it so much. If you get it, get the "all new" version. Done with my infomercial now, but I hope the book helps you.

I knew about Jamie Oliver from my boss' wife, who's English. You know here in Italy he's not famous at all. Anyway I read some recips from his last book and they were really good! Then, good luck with your special garden!

One more thing...I totally agree with sam_g about fresh pesto sauce, it's terrific!!!

I'll be curious to hear how this turns out.. I'd love to start up a kitchen garden like that, but my yard is the approximate size of a postage stamp, so it would have to be something potted like that on the deck.

I always grew my herbs in pots too, so we could move them with us. Now that we have a house, I tried to do a garden here this year, and the soil is WAY to sandy, so this year I'm back to the pots. You're herbs look great! There's nothing like have fresh ingredients at your fingertips.Place some potted marigolds around your herb pots,as they prevent bugs really well. Enjoy!!

I think it's great you have your own garden. I'm going to school to be a Pastry Cook and am a firm believer in self-sustaining agriculture, and organic foods. I wish you the best of luck and some happy cooking.

Way to go green! I had a garden when I was growing up, or rather I was made to work in my parents garden. Fortunately it was about three acres so it was large enough that I could sneak back in the house to watch TV. But the corn, beans, carrots,squash, watermelon,canaloupe, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, and potatos (yah we had a three acre garden) are all better tasting when they come from your own handiwork! Just watch out for those damn potato beetles!!